Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a user matching method, apparatus, and system.
Discussion
An online, multiplayer game refers to a game in which a plurality of users participates over a network, for example, the Internet. For instance, a user may play a game by directly selecting another user to play a game with the user. Playing a game by finding another user per game may cause significant inconvenience on the side of users. Accordingly, technology for automatically matching users desiring to play a game in a system is typically generalized, such that a first user may find and initiate a game with any suitable second user.
It is recognized that matching users having similar game capabilities may be advantageous, but may come at a cost. For example, a unilateral game result in a matching game may cause both a winner and a loser to lose interest or fun in the game if not properly matched to play one another. Also, in proceeding with a collaboration game by matching users having different game capabilities, a user having a relatively high game capability may have an increasing dissatisfaction against a counterparty with sufficiently inferior capability. On the contrary, a user having a relatively low game capability may have difficulty playing a game and may become frustrated playing users of disproportionately higher capability. Accordingly, both users may lose their interest in a game. As such, users having similar game capabilities may be automatically matched using technology for measuring and calculating game capabilities of the respective users using a skill calculator so that users can maintain their interest or fun in a game.
Social networking service (SNS) based games may also arouse users' interest or fun in a game and may also induce additional attention through communication between users before, during, or after the game. A skill based matching method, however, simply allows users to be interested in or have fun in a game and may not provide additional fun or interest.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.